Is Apple the IBM of 1984? That seems to be the implication Google wants mobile consumers to draw through a new ad and comments made at the Internet giant’s I/O conference. In a slap at Apple and the iPhone, a Google executive said his company saved consumers from a ‘Draconian future.’
“If Google did not act, we faced a Draconian future where one man, one company, one device, one carrier would be our only choice,” Google vice president of engineering Vic Gundotra told the crowd. The words were eerily like another anti-Apple message made last week by Adobe’s founders.
In response to Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ open letter on why the Cupertino, Calif. company would not support Flash, Adobe’s Chuck Geschke and John Warnock fired back. “No company — no matter how big or how creative — should dictate what you can create, how you can create it, or what you can experience on the web,” Geschke and Warnock wrote. Adobe and Google are now working together to add Flash support to Android.
“That’s a future we don’t want,” Gundotra said. That line became part of an ad likening Apple to IBM and Cupertino’s break-out ‘1984’ commercial introducing the Mac as an alternative to the PC. The Mountain View, Calif. firm uses both Gundotra’s line and ‘1984’ to subtly hint about the dangers of Apple.
“If you believe in openness, if you believe in choice, if you believe in innovation from everyone, then welcome to Android,” Gundotra said.
[via AppleInsider]
